Floating hair?

[FlaFly 0]

I made a foam hopper yesterday with a hair wing of undetermined origin. It floats (barely) but is rear-heavy. I seem to remember someone discussing sources of hair that floats a while back, but couldn't find the thread.

Can anyone fill me in on which critters have floating hair?

Thanks

 

[switch10 0]

Deer and elk hair are hollow, and float quite well.

[shoebop 0]

Water rodents like beaver and muskrat are good choices. Mink, Ermine, weasel are good too. Use the longer guard hair only by picking out the underfur. They don't float really but they repel water better than say squirrel, raccoon or groundhog. if you give them a good soaking in a floatant and let them dry out they will perform much better.

[agn54 0]

If you want to go synthetic, EP fibers/Congo Hair float as well

[utyer 0]

Your best options would be Deer, Antelope, and Elk hair. Most of the body hair on these is hollow and will float. The buck tail hair for the most part is not hollow, so it offers little buoyancy. Any of these hairs will eventually soak up enough water to loose their buoyancy so they will need to be treated with a floatant. Water animals like beaver, and muskrat do have oils in their fur which helps the fur shed water, but most of this is removed when they are processed. They are really not going to add much buoyancy.

 

Even foam will loose much of its buoyancy if you stretch it out too much while wrapping or over wrap it too much.

[DustinPedley 0]

MFC Widows Web. I do not use a lot of hair anymore besides wulff style flies.